Jewish Congress Opposes Use of Religious Quota in Children’s Courts

The American Jewish Congress filed an appeal today against part of the ruling handed down two weeks ago by a member of the New York State Commission Against Discrimination regarding a complaint made by the AJC that the New York City Domestic Relations Court practiced religious discrimination in the employment of probation officers.

While the ruling, as issued on July 9, upheld the position that religion was not to be considered in making appointments of probation officers to the courts as a whole, it failed to deal with the charge that the court makes assignments to the Children’s Court Division of the court on the basis of a religious quota.

The AJC pointed out that there is an essential difference between probation service in the Family Part of the Domestic Relations Court of the City of New York and that in the Children’s Part of the Court; that from the viewpoint of the probation officer service in the Family Part is inferior to that of the Children’s Part; and that accordingly, assignment of a probation officer to the Family Part rather than to the Children’s Part solely because of his religious affiliation constitutes an act of religious discrimination in violation of the law against discrimination.